George Carlin wrote:I always expect a Welsh side to be hammering down the back end of the season looking likely for a play off place and not to see that this season was, well, a bit weird to be honest.

It's going to take 3-5 years before you see that consistently. The damage done by the Rogering can't be underestimated.

The other thing that I am interested in is what other regions think about the rise of Scarlets. Is this a welcome thing (as Connacht rising was for Irish rugby) or does this raise suspicions that some regions are supported better than others?

The other thing that I am interested in is what other regions think about the rise of Scarlets. Is this a welcome thing (as Connacht rising was for Irish rugby) or does this raise suspicions that some regions are supported better than others?

George Carlin wrote:Just to try and segue away from any todger comparison exercises that may, or indeed may not, be happening on this thread at the moment - can Os fans offer a relatively compact explanation as to what went wrong for them this season?

I am not being funny at all - I am just not close enough to Welsh rugby to know.

I always expect a Welsh side to be hammering down the back end of the season looking likely for a play off place and not to see that this season was, well, a bit weird to be honest.

One stat will help you:

The Os won more points outside of the international windows than did Connacht.

The other thing that I am interested in is what other regions think about the rise of Scarlets. Is this a welcome thing (as Connacht rising was for Irish rugby) or does this raise suspicions that some regions are supported better than others?

The other thing that I am interested in is what other regions think about the rise of Scarlets. Is this a welcome thing (as Connacht rising was for Irish rugby) or does this raise suspicions that some regions are supported better than others?

I'm not overly sure it has been a rise as such, a few seasons back the Scarlets made the play-offs. I think this season, it may have looked like a rise, due to the other all not really turning up at the races, as far as the pro12 went. I honestly think next season it will be business as usual, the Ospreys being the top region, and then the Blues and Scarlets contending for the second best region (even though it is no longer of any relevance).

The other thing that I am interested in is what other regions think about the rise of Scarlets. Is this a welcome thing (as Connacht rising was for Irish rugby) or does this raise suspicions that some regions are supported better than others?

I'm not overly sure it has been a rise as such, a few seasons back the Scarlets made the play-offs. I think this season, it may have looked like a rise, due to the other all not really turning up at the races, as far as the pro12 went. I honestly think next season it will be business as usual, the Ospreys being the top region, and then the Blues and Scarlets contending for the second best region (even though it is no longer of any relevance).

Thanks for the compliment SS, our defence which on occasions has resembled a collander this past season, should radically improve under somebody who actually knows what he is doing, unless we get in somebody above Tandy, or someone with real expertise in scrum and lineout play, those areas still won't be strong enough, and if he carries on selecting back row players in the second row, things will still not be good enough, there is good news in the fact that Jarvis has left, but that has been compounded with the signing of Rhodri Jones as a tight head, which was shown again on Sunday to be useless in the scrummaging department, at least our 2 best tight heads are not Welsh qualified and if they stay injury free we should be relatively comfortable.I think a lot will depend on when we get our Internationals back from the NZ tour and if they are injury free and how the early season fixtures are set out, when Brad Davis the defence coach was signed it was mentioned there would be other signings, whether it was to the coaching department or/and a back three player, these would really add to our team, (Dan Evans has played in every single match of note for us since signing) we have been very fortunate in that he has not had a single significant injury since coming to Ospreylia.I know this past season has been very disappointing in some respects, but with the emergence of some really exciting talent that has had some invaluable game time, it should stand them in good stead for next and future seasons, if we can hang on to Underhill for his full 3 years as he has said he would, in a recent interview, it will allow Tips full time to recover and also give him time off, hopefully the Canadians should be raring to go, and if recent rumours are true, that Engelbrecht feels he owes us and wants to come back when his Japanese contract ends, centre and wing will be covered pretty well, a full compliment of Beck, Watkin, Engelbrecht, Fonotia and Matavesi will be fine.SS, if we stay relatively injury at normal proportions, I also think normal service will be resumed, but it won't take much to derail those assumptions.

Do Ospreys fans also believe that they have a chance in Europe's 2nd tier? If they aren't too injury stricken by the time the tournament rolls around then I believe they have a good chance of topping their group and progressing from there.

mikey_dragon wrote:Do Ospreys fans also believe that they have a chance in Europe's 2nd tier? If they aren't too injury stricken by the time the tournament rolls around then I believe they have a good chance of topping their group and progressing from there.

Can't we wait until June 29th for those kind of thoughts?

Look at Cardiff's group last year, for example. And they'd have got out of that but for one horrific refereeing performance.

Lloyd Ashley has signed a 3 year extension to his contract, he already had 1 year left on his existing contract, this new one will take him through to the end of the 18/19 season, in the announcement it is mentioned he is widely respected by both the youngsters coming through and the established players, it also states that he will be in the group of established players like AWJ and Bradley Davies and he will help with the youngsters improvements, naming the likes of Thornton, Beard and Dodd. No mention whatsoever was given to Bernardo, so obviously he is going or gone. Why no announcement was made is mystifying.

wayne wrote:Already posted on Dragons thread, poster has said we have signed Alex Jeffries from Newport RFC, as a tight head option, seems very tall for a Tight head 6'4", then if it stops Rhodri Jones from being embarrassed in that position it can only be good news.

This has now been confirmed on our website, he along with James Ratti Welsh U18 International have signed development contracts with the Ospreys, good luck to both, but with plenty of work to do.

mikey_dragon wrote:Surprised at that, but if you can give him better opportunities to develop then good luck to him.

Mikey what surprised me about this signing is the fact Alex came through the Dragons pathway (according to our website) played 70 times for Newport RFC scoring 7 tries in the process, and is only 21 years of age, and he has not been snapped up either as a Development or a full contract with the Dragons, with his size he could be fashioned into a first class Tight Head, whether we have the expertise to fulfill his potential only time will tell.

Good news that Olly Cracknell has signed a 1 year extension to his present contract that still had 1 year to run, unless Sam Underhill is called up in the Autumn, we are virtually covered for the next 2 seasons in the back row, unless we have another catastrophic injury list.

So Leon Brown is first class and Dan Cole isn't, when Leon isn't even the Wales U20 first choice, attack the post not the poster? who used the toilet language NOT ME. You didn't let him go, you didn't even give him a chance.Phil knows he's on my ignore list, I only see what he posts when he's quoted, so don't quote him, it was only done to get a reaction, I obliged, and just a little observation just for you, BAAAAAAAH

mikey_dragon wrote:Leon is 6'2 and I believe has another year of U20 rugby left, so naturally he'd be behind the very promising lewis.

Well lets hope he doesn't grow another 2" as he will be consigned to the scrapheap according to some, as for his age, it didn't stop our scrum half this year and people like Owen Watkin last year as they have and had other years to get better.

Well it's a little different for a TH prop. Lee struggled at this level for a while before becoming a Wales international. Is there any team in world rugby who has an U20 starting regularly at TH apart from the U20 teams?

It's still a shame Watkin was left out of the JWC, our backline has been terrible at passing and defending, just terrible overall.

Dan Evans has signed a 3 year extension to his contract, keeping him with us until after the 18/19 season, Dan is the 2nd quickest in our history to reach 50 appearances and has not missed a single Guinness League game and has only missed one European game in his time with us.Excellent signing, could do with a backup only Sam Davies is available, whether we try to play Dafydd Howells there is open to question, because basically we have played him on the wing, whereas the Wales U20s have played him at 15 a number of times.